


Lonely Boy

by PsychoHalo



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: College AU, M/M, but endearing, harry is awkward, louis is an ra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 06:25:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11374425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychoHalo/pseuds/PsychoHalo
Summary: Louis thought being an RA would be so much easier. He really wishes his resident Harry wasn't so cute, because that's a no-go, but he also wishes Harry would stop trying to keep hermit crabs and lava lamps and every other code violation in the world in his room. Even though he doesn't mind having to knock on his door all the time, it gets to a point where he would rather not have a snake crawling around the hallways.





	Lonely Boy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sweetharry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetharry/gifts).



> This is for sweetharry. Thanks for the amazing prompt. I hope I did it justice. Thanks Lizzy and Mal for being my betas!

Becoming an RA was pretty much suicide on Louis’ social life, but that was why he did it. During Louis’ first year of college he went crazy and was the life of every frat party there was. His fraternity brothers thought that was an admirable trait, but Louis hated that he had let himself get so out of control. In his second year of college, he left the fraternity and moved into a dorm room to be an RA.  
The idea was to busy himself so he had no time to get black-out drunk and sleep with everyone who flirted with him. His first year being an RA was challenging, and he had a hard time trying to break his binge-drinking habits, but he got through it surprisingly well. He really enjoyed helping the residents in his hall, and had fun getting to know them. His residents confided in him and he liked being a person people felt comfortable venting to.  
During Louis’ first year of being an RA, most of his students were very well behaved and rarely caused issues. After leaving the frat he was in freshman year, he filled his time with his residents, becoming close friends with many of them. Once it came to his second year on the job, however, he wasn’t ready for what was to come. The day he met Harry Styles, the resident in 118, was the last day of his sanity.  
***  
“Margaret, I’m pretty sure you know that alcohol is not allowed in the dorms,” Louis remarked as he glanced at the six pack on his resident’s desk. “For God’s sake, you didn’t even try to hide it.”  
It was move-in day, and Louis was excited to meet his new residents. He hoped they would be easy to get along with and wouldn’t break too many rules.  
“I’m unpacking, I haven’t had a chance to hide it,” Margert replied, seeming to be unfazed by breaking a rule after only being at college for an hour.  
“You realize I’m going to have to confiscate it right?” Louis threatened as he reached for the beer. Margaret stopped him from taking it by placing her hand on his. She raised her eyebrow as she started speaking in a flirty tone.  
“You just want it for yourself, don’t you? If that’s the case, maybe we could split it?” Louis knew she was just flirting to get her way, and he was not about to fall for it.  
“Well, I’m not gonna throw away good beer, am I? It’s not against the rules for me to have it. And I’m your RA, I’ll lose my job if I drink with you. Or if I flirt with you, so drop the act.”  
“Fine, take it. But just know I won’t stop flirting with you, you’re hot as hell.” Margaret put it so bluntly.  
“I’m leaving now.” Louis said as he picked up the beer and headed back to his room.  
On his way out of Margaret’s room, he heard voices coming from the room across the hall, so he went to the doorway and knocked on the already open door. A tall brunette boy and a woman who seemed to be his mother dropped their conversation and turned around with smiles on their faces.  
“Sorry to interrupt, just wanted to introduce myself quick. I’m Louis, I’m the RA for this floor.” Louis made direct eye contact with the boy while talking. Even from a distance, Louis could tell he had welcoming green eyes. The boy smiled at Louis, breaking eye contact after it became awkward.  
“I’m Harry. This is my mom, Anne. Nice to meet you Louis.”  
“Nice to meet you too. Welcome to the floor, it’s gonna be a great year!” Louis was about to turn around to leave when he noticed a small plastic cage on Harry’s bedside table. At first Louis thought it was a hermit crab, until he saw a giant, hairy leg peeking out from behind some leaves. He willed himself not to scream, and as calmly as he could, asked, “Is that a tarantula? I’m afraid you can’t have that in the dorm. Even if it wasn’t against the rules, I really wouldn’t want it here anyway.”  
Harry’s smile dropped and he looked like a child who had just been told he had to finish eating his brussel sprouts before he ate dessert.  
“Yeah, it is a tarantula.” He sounded very disappointed.  
“I’m sorry to break the news to you, but it’s got to go.” Louis felt bad, it was clear Harry was upset at the idea of getting rid of the spider, but it couldn’t be in the dorms. It was terrifying. All Louis could think about was the mayhem that would ensue if it got out of the cage.  
“It’s harmless though,” Harry argued, trying to convince Louis to let him keep it. I was no use though. Rules were rules, and this was one Louis was intent to enforce.  
“Sorry Harry. I’ve already had to confiscate a six pack today, so it’s nothing personal. I’ll see you later in the day; the spider better be gone by then. It was nice meeting you both.” And with that, Louis exited the room to meet more residents who he hopefully didn’t have to take anything from.  
***  
Louis was sitting on his bed watching Netflix that evening when a resident barged in. Louis’ door had been open since he was on duty, however he was still annoyed he had to pause the show he was watching. The resident who just came in was Dennis, Harry’s roommate.  
“Hey Dennis, what’s up?” Louis questioned as he moved his laptop out of the way and stood up.  
“I’m not sharing a room with some freak who has a pet tarantula! Is that even allowed? What kind of loser has a pet spider anyway?”  
“First of all, calling Harry a freak is uncalled for, you don’t even know him yet. Second of all, I told him to get rid of it, he shouldn’t even have it anymore.”  
“Well he does.” Dennis remarked as Louis started to make his way out of his room and across the hall to Harry and Dennis’ room. Dennis followed him as he walked up to the doorway and knocked before walking in.  
“Hey Harry,” Louis called to the boy who was sitting at his desk reading. Harry turned around when he heard his name. He looked alarmed when he saw Louis standing there.  
“Hi Louis.” Harry replied as he glanced over to his bedside table where the spider cage still sat.  
“It’s come to my attention that you still have the spider. I thought I told you to get rid of it.” Louis raised his eyebrow at Harry who looked away.  
“Don’t refer to her as an it.”  
“Harry it’s a tarantula, I don’t think she cares if I use the wrong pronoun.” Harry rolled his eyes and walked over to the spider cage, picking it up.  
“Fine, I’ll set her free in the woods. Just know if she dies, it’s your fault. I was keeping her until her leg healed, which it hasn’t yet.”  
“I will be absolutely heartbroken if she dies.” Louis sarcastically remarked. The comment appeared to upset Harry if the glare on his face had any indication.  
“You don’t have to be rude about it, I said I’d get rid of her.”  
“You’re right, I’m sorry I’m being insensitive about your pet. It is against the rules though, you should have thought about that before bringing a spider to college.  
***  
The first week of school went well and Louis liked the residents he had. Even though it had just been a week, he was already starting to get close to a lot of the students. Even some of the difficult residents were starting to grow on him, including Harry. After the incident with the spider there was an incident with a lava lamp. Even Louis admitted it was a weird rule, but lava lamps were apparently more of a fire hazard than regular lamps. Louis could tell Harry wasn’t a rebellious rule breaker, he just happened to break two rules in his first week. Nothing Louis couldn’t handle, he didn’t mind dealing with Harry anyway. Harry was interesting to talk to. The short conversations they had were usually awkward on Harry’s part, but Louis still enjoyed them. Harry had a unique sense of humor that Louis didn’t quite understand yet, but he made it a personal goal to figure it out. He knew that the more he understood his residents, the more they would respect him.  
Louis was standing outside Harry’s door knocking. Dennis had told him Harry brought home a lizard and Louis was not very eager to find out if it was true. Harry answered the door and upon realizing Louis was the one knocking, stepped into the hallway and closed the door.  
“Hey Louis.” Harry said awkwardly, avoiding eye contact as usual.  
“What are you hiding in your room Harry?” Louis cut straight to the point.  
“What do you mean? I’m not hiding anything.”  
“So if I go into your room right now, I won’t find a lizard?”  
“Dennis told you didn’t he?”  
“Harry, it has to go. Pets aren’t allowed in the dorms. Didn’t I make that clear with the tarantula? Where did you even get a lizard?”  
“I found it. He was having trouble crawling so I helped it.” It was hard for Louis to be mad when Harry acted so innocent. All he wanted to do was help the lizard, he wasn’t trying to break rules.  
“I’m sorry, but it has to be gone by the end of the day. I’ll be back to check later.”  
***  
The first two months of school had gone by in a blur and they were now into November. Louis was having trouble staying away from partying even though he had done so well last year. The stress Junior year was getting to him and he didn’t know how to cope with it. So far, he had avoided the parties, but he did go to bars with friends a lot. That usually resulted in a random hookup, but he couldn’t be bothered to put all bad habits to rest.  
As for his residents, things were going well for the most part. He had to mediate many roommate fights, but it always ended well. And of course, there was Harry. Harry had broken many more rules since the lizard. He had been caught with lit candles which was another fire violation. But it didn’t end there. There was also the incidents with the hermit crab, gecko, snake, and even a squirrel. It seemed that Dennis’ favorite pass time was ratting out Harry and talking bad about him to Louis. Louis would always yell at Dennis for calling Harry names, but would appreciate the tip that Harry had broken another rule. The last straw was when Louis walked out in the hallway and a snake slithered past. He immediately ran to Harry’s room and told him that if he was caught with one more pet, Louis would have to write him up.  
***  
Harry tentatively knocked on Louis’ open door one afternoon while Louis was studying while on duty.  
“Come in.” Louis said while moving his books to clear a space for Harry to sit down. Harry walked over and sat at the edge of Louis’ bed “What’s up Harry? You don’t have another pet, do you?” Louis joked but harry didn’t seem to think it was funny.  
“I know you think I’m weird for having pets, but I’m not weird.” Harry seemed very upset about the fact that people might think he was weird. It was actually endearing.  
“I don’t think you’re weird, you just have weird pets.”  
“It’s hard for me to not have a pet. I like animals, they’re easier to get along with than people.”  
“I guess I understand that. Animals don’t call you mean names and then steal your girlfriend.”  
“I don’t have a girlfriend.” Harry replied seeming confused.  
“It was a joke.” Louis chucked as he playfully hit Harry on the arm. The gesture caused harry to lighten up slightly. “So you don’t have a girlfriend then?” Louis brought it up again to make conversation. Harry pulled his knees to his chest and shook his head.  
“Do you have a boyfriend?” Louis wasn’t sure why he asked that, it might seem kind of rude to inquire. Harry seemed caught off guard as he looked at Louis in shock, not saying anything for a few awkward seconds. “It’s okay if you do, I wouldn’t judge.”  
“I know it’s okay if I had a boyfriend. But I don’t so stop asking.”  
“I’m sorry, I was just making conversation, I really didn’t mean to pry.”  
“I know, I’m sorry I snapped at you. That actually has something to do with why I’m here. Dennis has been a huge asshole since the first day, but he’s been a lot worse recently. A few minutes ago, he got mad at me for one of my socks getting on his side of the room and he called me the f word. He’s just ignorant, he doesn’t realize how offensive it is to be called that, but I don’t know what to do. I’m not good at confronting people.”  
“Harry I’m so sorry you had to deal with that. It’s not okay for him to talk to you like that. I’ll talk to him if you’d like?”  
“I don’t want you to talk to him while I’m in the room though.”  
“You stay here then and I’ll go talk to him now.”  
Louis got up from his bed and practically marched over to Harry and Dennis’ room. He opened the door without knocking which obviously upset Dennis. Once he walked inside, he slammed the door shut.  
“Ever heard of knocking?” Dennis spit out at Louis.  
“Ever heard of being a decent human being? I found out you called Harry a fag and I’m not happy about that. Derogatory terms are not tolerated in theses dorms and if I ever hear you use that word again I will write you up.”  
“I’m sorry if I don’t want to share a room with a gay guy. It’s disgusting, he probably watches me change.”  
“You know nothing about Harry’s sexuality and it’s none of your business either. And if he was gay, I can promise that he would not be watching you change. What’s disgusting is you being homophobic. Don’t you ever fucking call him, or anyone that ever again. It shouldn’t even be in your vocabulary.”  
“Are you also gay? Only gay people get mad about that word.”  
“That’s such bullshit, only decent people get mad about that word, and you are clearly not a decent person. Also, where the fuck have you even been? Everybody knows I’m into guys, Dennis, and you seem to be the only one who cares. Get a fucking life.” Louis turned around and left the room only to find not only Harry, but several other residents standing in the hall listening in. Louis was screaming pretty loud. Louis glanced at Harry, shrugging his shoulders as he went back to his own room.  
***  
Harry was doing his laundry when Niall, a student two doors from Harry’s room, walked in with his laundry basket.  
“Hey mate, I’m Niall,” Niall introduced himself.  
“Hey, I’m Harry.”  
“Wait, aren’t you the one with the spider and snake and shit?”  
“I don’t have them anymore.”  
“Did Louis confiscate them?”  
“Yeah.” Harry replied with a chuckle, trying to hide the small smile on his face.  
“That Louis is really something, am I right? He’s crazy good at his job; he’s already confiscated like, my entire alcohol stash.” Niall smirked and shrugged.  
“Yeah, I wasn’t really good at hiding those animals anyway.” Harry looked down at the ground and sort of grinned shyly to himself, while twisting the cap on and off of his detergent.  
“You sure are making him work hard aren’t you?” Niall remarked. Harry just giggled awkwardly.  
“Good.” He says, and Niall isn’t sure if he’s meant to hear it, but he keeps note.  
***  
Louis was off duty when he heard a knock at his door. He rolled his eyes as he went to open the door, prepared to yell that he was off duty to whoever was at the door. He opened the door and one of the residents, Niall, was standing there.  
“Mate, I’m off duty, is it urgent?”  
“Not really, just wanted to tell you something interesting.”  
“What could possibly be so interesting that you would tell me at 10 at night?”  
“It’s about Harry, the kid with the weird pets. I’m pretty sure he actually tries to break the rules so he will get caught.”  
“Niall, that’s ridiculous why would he do that?”  
“To get your attention. I’m sure you can tell that he’s a bit awkward and he doesn’t really know how to make friends.”  
“That’s not nice of you to say. Where did you even get this information?”  
“I didn’t mean that in a rude way. I’ve just noticed he doesn’t know how to start up a conversation with someone.”  
“Why would he go through all that to get my attention?”  
“Maybe he thinks your cool and wants to be your friend. Or maybe.. he tryin-a fuck.” Niall said with a wink and click of his tongue.  
“Let me get this straight, you think he brings gross animals into his room just so he has an excuse to talk to me? Because you think he wants to fuck me? Where did you get this information?”  
“I just notice things. And for the record I said also said he might want to be your friend. I don’t know that for sure, I’m just guessing.”  
“Thanks for your uneducated guess, but I think you’re crazy. Goodnight.” And with that, he slammed his door.  
***  
Louis was just sat in his room, watching an episode of Gossip Girl he’s already seen before. He was on duty, so the door was left ajar, and he was looking at some of his resident’s Snapchat stories. Noticing a notification popping up on his screen, he swiped to see who had sent it. It was from Harry, and he wasted no time opening it. The video started with a close-up of Harry raising his eyebrows in a hilariously provocative way, then switched to a quickly zoomed in and out bit of Louis through his open bedroom door. Louis laughed and said in a loud, yet friendly manner, “Harry you’re so weird!” Noticing the silence that stretched on for too long, he became disconcerted.  
“Harry?”  
The door across the hall clicked shut and the silence continued.  
Confused and contemplating whether or not to check on Harry, he slowly crosses the hall and knocked on the door. There was no reply.  
“Harry, I was just joking, I didn’t actually mean that,” Louis called through the door. He wondered just how much his comment had offended Harry. Still nothing from the other side of the door.  
Harry slowly opened the door, and without saying anything to Louis, went back and sat on his bed. Taking this as a signal to follow, Louis walked in and softly shut the door behind him. He gestured to the spot next to Harry on the bed, then sat down when Harry nodded. The two boys didn’t look at each other, awkward tension in the air.  
“Harry, you know I didn’t mean that right?” He tried not to plead with him, instead taking a more friendly approach to the situation.  
“Yeah I know.” Harry shrugged it off, still not making eye contact.  
“Harry, what’s up?” Louis took a more serious tone. “You know you can tell me anything. I’m the RA, that’s what I’m here for.”  
Harry seemed very reluctant to explain. “I don’t really want to get into it right now, it’s not that big of a deal.”  
“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me,” Louis said kindly, and gave Harry a pat on the back, which was meant to be comforting. Harry shied away.  
Harry sighed. “I guess I’m just tired of everyone thinking I’m just some weird kid.”  
Louis nodded. “You’re not weird. Who said that? I’m sure not everyone thinks that way. In fact, I don’t know one person who does.”  
“Everyone thinks that. That’s all everyone has been telling me my whole life. I hate it when people call me weird.”  
Louis nods encouragingly, but doesn’t say anything. He figured it was better to give Harry room to talk; he obviously had a lot on his mind.  
Harry skirted around the question. “I know that I’m different and I might be a little bit awkward, but it really hurts me when people say I’m weird. It makes me feel like nobody wants to be around me. Around here, people know me as the weird kid with the spider. But they don’t even try to get to know me. It’s hard for me to make friends when everyone around here seems to be so judgmental. I’ve never been good at maintaining friendships, but it seems to be even harder around here.”  
“I’m sure they don’t actually think you’re weird, but I totally get that it’s hard to make friends in college. What makes it hard for you?”  
“I just feel like nobody understands me, or that I come off as annoying.” Harry started kicking the bed frame beneath him in apparent frustration.  
“Was it hard to make friends in high school too?”  
“It wasn’t hard for me to make friends, it was just hard to keep them. Eventually they drifted off once they realized I wasn’t as cool as they thought.” Harry finally made eye contact with Louis as he spoke.  
Louis struggled to understand, and he leaned in a bit. “People have actually said that you’re weird?”  
“Yeah.” Harry paused, contemplating whether he should tell the story. “It was mostly the boyfriend I had in high school.”  
Although he wasn’t surprised about Harry’s sexuality, Louis maintained an interested expression on his face. He was just happy that Harry was opening up. “Must not have been a good boyfriend if he said that about you. That’s awful. Did he say stuff like that a lot?” He wondered if he was being too nosy, but decided to roll with it.  
“At first he would say he was just joking, but I knew he wasn’t. It got to the point where he wouldn’t even pretend anymore. Insulting me and playing with my emotions was a game to him. I know I didn’t deserve that but it got to the point where I just believed whatever he said about me.”  
Louis became upset at the idea that someone could be that cruel. “I can’t imagine having to go through that. But you have to know that what he said wasn’t true at all. Please don’t see yourself that way. You can’t reduce yourself to someone else’s opinion.” Louis straightened up on the bed. “I might not know you that well, but I think you’re really great. You of all people don’t deserve to be treated that way. And I am so sorry that I said that. I had no idea, and I shouldn’t have said it anyway. It wasn’t funny.”  
Harry’s eyes meet Louis’s.  
Louis continues on. “Being different isn’t a bad thing at all. It’s an admirable thing to be. And I don’t think you’re weird at all.”  
Harry looked surprised at what Louis was saying, and his gratitude was evident on his face.  
***  
After half a bottle of vodka and a few hours of ranting about shitty exes, Harry and Louis lay content and tipsy as they giggle about Dan Humphry’s butt and Chuck Bass’s cheesy remarks.  
“Hey Lou?” Harry slurs, clumsily pushing himself up to a sitting position.  
“Yeah green eyes?” Louis joked, a bit too flirty, but hey, he was drunk so who could blame him.  
Harry’s response was just a fond smile directed at the RA, his head slightly cocked in a dopey, mildly-intoxicated way that twisted Louis’ stomach into a million knots.  
“Whaaat is it spider boy?” Louis whined, sitting up to be eye level with Harry.  
It’s right then when time stopped. Louis had never witness one of those earth shattering, cliché as fuck “oh shit” moments where you lock eyes with someone and just know that there’s something there… Until right then. But, I’m sure if anyone asked, he’d deny it.  
Caught in Harry’s gaze, he barely heard the four little words that tumbled quietly from his mouth. Almost..  
“Can I kiss you?”  
And instead of leaning in, instead of just smashing his face into Harry’s like he would any other boy, Louis’ heart melted as he simply replied, “Always”.  
And they kissed.  
And that’s how it happened, the start of it all.


End file.
